Camusot

“ The more this prisoner—whose identity was not yet ascertained—pointed to clouds on the horizon in the event of Lucien's being examined, the more necessary did the interrogatory seem to Camusot. Even if this formality had not been required by the Code and by common practice, it was indispensable as bearing on the identification of the Abbe Carlos. There is in every walk of life the business conscience. In default of curiosity Camusot would have examined Lucien as he had examined Jacques Collin, with all the cunning which the most honest magistrate allows himself to use in such cases. ”

“ CAMUSOT, silk-merchant, rue des Bourdonnais, Paris, under the Restoration. Born in 1765. Son-in-law and successor of Cardot, whose eldest daughter he had married. At that time he was a widower, his first wife being a Demoiselle Pons, sole heiress of the celebrated Pons family, embroiderers to the Court during the Empire. About 1834 Camusot retired from business, and became a member of the Manufacturers' Council, deputy, peer of France and baron. He had four children. In 1821-1822 he maintained Coralie, who became so violently enamored of Lucien de Rubempre. ”

“ The girl, brought up at the gates of the Tuileries, had caught some tincture of the maxims practised there, and adopted the dogma of passive obedience to authority. She had sagely judged that her husband, by ranging himself on the side of the d’Esgrignons, would find favor with Mme. la Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, and with two powerful families on whose influence with the King the Sieur Thirion could depend at an opportune moment. Camusot might get an appointment at the first opportunity within the jurisdiction of Paris, and afterwards at Paris itself. ”

“ Pray take me to speak to Monsieur Camusot before he is otherwise engaged."
"Oh, you have plenty of time for seeing Monsieur Camusot," said Massol. "If you send him in your card, he will spare you the discomfort of waiting in the ante-room with the witnesses.—We can be civil here to ladies like you.—You have a card about you?" ”

“ As he saw this being, so completely bereft of the moral courage which is the essence of a judge, and which the last prisoner had so strongly manifested, Monsieur Camusot disdained the easy victory; and this scorn enabled him to strike a decisive blow, since it left him, on the ground, that horrible clearness of mind which the marksman feels when he is firing at a puppet.
“Collect yourself, Monsieur de Rubempre; you are in the presence of a magistrate who is eager to repair the mischief done involuntarily by the law when a man is taken into custody on suspicion that has no foundation. ”

“ Monsieur Camusot was resisting?" said the public prosecutor, laughing too. "He is a brave man indeed; I should not dare resist the Countess."
And thus for the moment this serious affair was no more than a pretty woman's jest, at which Camusot himself must laugh.
But Monsieur de Granville saw one man who was not amused. Not a little alarmed by the Comte de Serizy's attitude and expression, his friend led him aside. ”

“ Take my word for it, Monsieur Camusot, when a judge has been toiling all night in such gulfs of sorrow, feeling the heavy hand of God on all human concerns, and heaviest on noble souls, it is hard to sit down here, in front of a desk, and say in cold blood, ‘Cut off a head at four o’clock! Destroy one of God’s creatures full of life, health, and strength!’—And yet this is my duty! Sunk in grief myself, I must order the scaffold——
“The condemned wretch cannot know that his judge suffers anguish equal to his own. ”

“ Send for the prison doctor and an infirmary attendant.—We shall be obliged to remove your coat and proceed to verify the marks on your shoulder," Camusot went on.
"I am in your hands, monsieur."
The prisoner then inquired whether the magistrate would be kind enough to explain to him what he meant by "the marks," and why they should be sought on his shoulder. The judge was prepared for this question.
"You are suspected of being Jacques Collin, an escaped convict, whose daring shrinks at nothing, not even at sacrilege!" said Camusot promptly, his eyes fixed on those of the prisoner. ”

“ At this moment Coquart came in to tell Monsieur Camusot that the public prosecutor expected him.
Oppressed by the blunder he had committed, in view of his ambitions, though to the better ends of justice, the lawyer, in whom seven years' experience had perfected the sharpness that comes to a man who in his practice has had to measure his wits against the grisettes of Paris, was anxious to have some shield against the resentment of two women of fashion. ”

“ Camusot, as he saw the smile, understood the bearing of the word “almost.”
“Lucien de Rubempre is in custody under suspicion of being your accomplice,” said he, watching to see the effect of this news on his examinee.
“You have brought about a great misfortune, for he is as innocent as I am,” replied the sham Spaniard, without betraying the smallest agitation.
“We shall see. We have not as yet established your identity,” Camusot observed, surprised at the prisoner’s indifference. “If you are really Don Carlos Herrera, the position of Lucien Chardon will at once be completely altered.” ”

“ This was so serious a matter that it put Camusot's intentions out of his head.
"Show her in," said he.
"Beg your pardon; pray excuse me, gentlemen all," said the woman, courtesying to the judge and the Abbe Carlos by turns. "We were so worried by the Law—my husband and me—the twice when it has marched into our house, that we had forgotten a letter that was lying, for Monsieur Lucien, in our chest of drawers, which we paid ten sous for it, though it was posted in Paris, for it is very heavy, sir. Would you please to pay me back the postage? For God knows when we shall see our lodgers again!" ”

“ The two magistrates exchanged looks, and such looks!
"What lady was that!" asked Camusot.
"One of his penitents—a Marquise," replied Gault.
"Worse and worse!" said Monsieur de Granville, looking at Camusot.
"She gave all the gendarmes and warders a sick headache," said Monsieur Gault, much puzzled.
"Nothing can be a matter of indifference in your business," said the public prosecutor. "The Conciergerie has not such tremendous walls for nothing. How did this lady get in?" ”

“ I don't want to fall off after that young man's notice of me."
"That is a handsome boy," said Camusot.
"Do you think so? I don't admire men of that sort; they are too much like women; and they do not understand how to love like you stupid old business men. You are so bored with your own society."
"Is monsieur dining with madame?" inquired Berenice.
"No, my mouth is clammy."
"You were nicely screwed yesterday. Ah! Papa Camusot, I don't like men who drink, I tell you at once——"
"You will give that young man a present, I suppose?" interrupted Camusot. ”

“ Camusot broke in, followed by the handsome stranger, "so he might when M. Chesnel had advanced the money to meet the bill&mdash&mdash"
She leant over her husband.
"You will have the first vacant appointment as assistant judge at Paris, you are serving the King himself in this affair; I have proof of it; you will not be forgotten," she said, lowering her voice in his ear. "This young man that you see here is the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse; you must never have seen her, and do all that you can for the young Count boldly." ”

“ Camusot, sensible of a decided chill in the atmosphere, took their departure to leave the conspirators to talk at their ease.
"Camusot," the lady began in the street, "you went too far. Why lead those people to suspect that you will have no part in their schemes? They will play you some ugly trick."
"What can they do? I am the only examining magistrate."
"Cannot they slander you in whispers, and procure your dismissal?"
At that very moment Chesnel ran up against the couple. The old notary recognized the examining magistrate ”

“ Struck by Jacques Collin's request, and remembering how he had insisted that he wished to be examined first as a privilege to his state of health, Camusot's suspicions were aroused once more. Allowing his vague doubts to make themselves heard, he noticed that the self-styled dying man was walking off with the strength of a Hercules, having abandoned all the tricks he had aped so well on appearing before the magistrate. ”

“ He put them on, but they hurt me so much that I have taken them off, and after all I must wear them."
"Don't put them on again if they are uncomfortable," said Camusot. (The boots had made him feel so very uncomfortable himself.)
"Mademoiselle would do better to have a pair made of very thin morocco, sir, instead of torturing herself as she did just now; but the management is so stingy. She was crying, sir; if I was a man and loved a woman, I wouldn't let her shed a tear, I know. You ought to order a pair for her——"
"Yes, yes," said Camusot. "Are you just getting up, Coralie?" ”

“ Would you believe it, little and old as he is, M. Cardot only gives Florine five hundred francs a month, just about enough to pay for her rent and her grub and her clothes. The old Marquis de Rochegude offered me a brougham two months ago, and he has six hundred thousand francs a year, but I am an artist and not a common hussy."
"You shall have a carriage the day after to-morrow, miss," said Camusot benignly; "you never asked me for one."
"As if one asked for such a thing as that? What! you love a woman and let her paddle about in the mud at the risk of breaking her legs? ”

“ The eldest son of Camusot's first wife married a daughter of one of the king's ushers. The world is mighty hump-backed when it stoops! However, it was a clever thing to do, for the Cocon d'Or has the custom of the present court as it had that of the Emperor. But to-morrow we will go and see your uncle Cardot, and I hope that you will endeavor to behave properly ”

“ Coralie was the delight of the pit; all eyes dwelt on the outlines moulded by the clinging folds of her bodice, and lingered over the Andalusian contour of the hips from which her skirt hung, fluttering wantonly with every movement. To Lucien, watching this creature, who played for him alone, caring no more for Camusot than a street-boy in the gallery cares for an apple-paring, there came a moment when he set desire above love, and enjoyment above desire, and the demon of Lust stirred strange thoughts in him. ”

“ The personal attendants of kings prosper at all times; you take an interest in a man, be it only a man in livery, if you see him every day.
Mme. Camusot, regarding herself as a bird of passage, had taken a little house in the Rue du Cygne. Furnished lodgings there were none; the town was not enough of a thoroughfare, and the Camusots could not afford to live at an inn like M. Michu. So the fair Parisian had no choice for it but to take such furniture as she could find ”

“ Brunner took it in his hand and looked at it. "It is worth five thousand francs," he said after a moment.
"Did you not come here, sir, to ask for my granddaughter?" inquired the future peer of France.
"Yes, sir," said Brunner; "and I beg you to believe that no possible marriage could be more flattering to my vanity. I shall never find any one more charming nor more amiable, nor a young lady who answers to my ideas like Mlle. Cecile; but—"
"Oh, no buts!" old Camusot broke in; "or let us have the translation of your 'buts' at once, my dear sir." ”

“ Then, if you wish for further evidence, I will write to His Eminence the High Almoner of France, and he will immediately send his private secretary."
"And do you still pretend that you are dying?" asked the magistrate. "If you have really gone through all the sufferings you have complained of since your arrest, you ought to be dead by this time," said Camusot ironically.
"You are simply trying the courage of an innocent man and the strength of his constitution," said the prisoner mildly. ”

“ Nevertheless, on some great occasions, when promotion depends on the decision taken, many a wife, like Amelie, has helped the lawyer in his study of a case. And, after all, these exceptions, which, of course, are easily denied, since they remain unknown, depend entirely on the way in which the struggle between two natures has worked out in home-life. Now, Madame Camusot controlled her husband completely.
When all in the house were asleep, the lawyer and his wife sat down to the desk, where the magistrate had already laid out the documents in the case. ”

“ An examination may be everything or nothing. Therein lies the favor.
Camusot rang. The usher had returned. He was sent to fetch Monsieur Lucien de Rubempre with an injunction to prohibit his speaking to anybody on his way up. It was by this time two in the afternoon.
"There is some secret," said the judge to himself, "and that secret must be very important. My amphibious friend—since he is neither priest, nor secular, nor convict, nor Spaniard, though he wants to hinder his protege from letting out something dreadful—argues thus: 'The poet is weak and effeminate ”

“ Du Croisier’s adherents, knowing the secret and the plans of the great commercial power, looked round when the lady of the house disappeared; but there were still several persons present whose opinions or interests marked them out as untrustworthy, so they continued to play. About half past eleven all had gone save intimates: M. Sauvager, M. Camusot, the examining magistrate, and his wife, M. and Mme. du Ronceret and their son Fabien, M. and Mme. du Coudrai, and Joseph Blondet, the eldest of an old judge; ten persons in all. ”